When Johnny Comes Marching Home

Noted Bandmaster Patrick Gilmore wrote the lyrics for this tune when his band was attached to the 24th Massachusetts Infantry. The tune is the same as the Irish song "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" but there is some dispute as to which came first.

"Johnny" did not refer to "Johnny Reb" but most likely Gilmore's future brother-in-law, a Union army officer. The story behind the song is on the Library of Congress website.

http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc...

The first page of the song (Louis Lambert was a pseudonym of Gilmore's) bears a dedication at the top "to the army and the navy of the Union". This was not a Confederate song and more than a few people on youtube need to learn how to do some very simple research.

http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/sc...

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  • "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" by United States Military Academy Band (Google Play • iTunes)